Head of IT

Job Description
Head of IT
A high profile and established (founded 1913) British fashion company seek to appoint a Head of IT to work at its Head Office, overseeing various sites across the United Kingdom and one location in Germany.
Responsibilities and Duties:
· IT operations and management of the entire retail system.
· Prepare IT budget.
· Manages the relevant IT hardware and software of the retail system and at warehouse.
· Provision of quality 1st to 2nd line support.
· Work closely with the Directors on the strategic direction of IT, advising on robust plans to deliver an IT system that are in line with best practice, aligned with business goals and cost effective.
· Build operational IT Plans, both short & long term, covering Software & Infrastructure needs.
· Function as a pivot point with the business on all IT requests, including all decisions on infrastructure.
· Oversee the suppliers on software & infrastructure needs, putting in place clear plans to deliver IT solutions to meet business goals.
· Working with the wider team, manage and deal with internal-external audits and management responses in respect to these and other regulatory/financial audits. PCI DSS, GDPR.
Requirements:
· You must be able to work within a small IT team and inspire them.
· Mastery of retail systems and experience in the Eurostop Retail System will be a great advantage.
· Strong evidence of 1st to 5th line support. Prioritize incidents, service requests and problems and be flexible and able to adjust based on the business impact of each one.
· Ability to oversee, administer and maintain the retail and warehouse estates (tills and accessories, servers, workstations, network infrastructure, MDM, on-prem applications, Meraki networking equipment, Office 365, AD, SQL Server, Ms Server 2016 – 2022, Veeam Backup, Mimecast, Antivirus, etc.).
· Experience in coordinating installations, upgrades, and maintenance.
· Experience in managing multiple projects including rolling out IT infrastructure across various technologies. Experience in opening retail fashion outlets will be a great advantage.
· Experience with Ms SQL Server and BT Cloud phone systems.
· Experience in people supervision; including training and development.
· Resourceful in solving problems and leveraging resources to get results.
· Experience in developing and implementing IT strategies aligned with the companies’ overall objectives.
· A strong understanding of various IT systems, networks, and infrastructure components.
· The ability to lead and inspire a small team of IT professionals.
· Excellent verbal and written communication skills to convey complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders, facilitate cross-departmental collaboration, and negotiate with vendors.
· A mindset for innovation, continuously exploring new technologies, methodologies, and best practices to enhance IT operations and drive business innovation.